Others can chime in but alot of times when I open the stove and depends on the type of wood I burnt all night the ashes look really fluffy and looks like they need removed. But actually all that needs to be done is to use like a ash rake or I used a flattened out Ash Shovel with a 90 bend to push the ashes back to the back wall of the stove. What this does is takes all the air out of the ashes and also lets you rake back the bigger coals toward the front of the stove. As those coals raked forward is what is going to help you get another load of splits going. But the ashes after having them pressed back against the back wall will be alot of less and no need to remove them. You can do this several times and prolong the need to shovel ashes out. After getting the hot coals raked forward you can load bigger chunks inn the back if your loading East West style. Then put a few smaller thin split kindling on the very front row on those hot coals for a fast start up as thats where the air comes into the stove. And those coals will get very hot with the air hitting them. Now with my North South Loads I still like the coals up to the front but I keep some ash in the back to keep my load level. Some people do a tunnel of love I will let someone else explain that one LOL.
